Child of Hodor

We are getting strong hints that Shallan has more terrible secrets from when she was a child. Some have speculated she might have sworn the 4th ideal before she halted the bond. I'm cracking up imagining little Shallan in her "baby's first shardplate". She's tottering around like Maggie Simpson in her snowsuit.

There is the WoB about him starting RoW in a jail that Dalinar sent him to. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/394/#e12849 I assume he will be running it as Warden. Szeth executed a crooked Warden in OB. Szeth had some strong opinions on prison administration and Warden is a good role for a Skybreaker. I don't think Dalinar is punishing Szeth, if he was going to do it he'd have done it at the end of OB instead of making him Navani's bodyguard. As Dalinar says to Kaladin about Amaram in WoR you can't imprison a shardbearer they'll just cut themselves free (I guess they could take Nightblood by force and Szeth may not have said the oath to take summon a blade yet). Anyways, I think Szeth isn't being utilized on the front lines because they don't trust him in that role and he doesn't trust himself. How many times has Szeth freaked out in battle during the series? Twice against Kaladin in WoR, then in OB he refused to go into the Thrill to help Dalinar who he just swore to follow. He made Lift take the King's Drop to Dalinar instead. Plus, Nightblood is super dangerous, he nearly killed Szeth and Lift. I do agree with the OP, he's the most dangerous fighter they have. He's been actively using the surges for longer (he trained with all the surges before being Truthless) and actively used them to kill a lot as Truthless. Szeth and Nightblood + Dalinar nearby to keep investiture plentiful for Nightblood is a devastating combination. Maybe a book 5 thing.

In this chapter Venli can look into the cognitive realm and see what’s in a gemheart which helps her distinguish between Fused and other Singers. Timbre is within Venli’s gemheart imprisoning the void spren, has been for a year. Is Odium just not paying attention to Venli or what? Is this one of his long cons where he is aware and using her? Surely he can see through multiple realms at once. He’s “shackled” but can interact directly with people when the Everstorm is near. Can he not see into gemhearts? Mistborn:

I’d guess they are a combo of dead singer cognitive shadow + Chasmfiend CS. They have the arrow-shaped head of a Chasmfiend, but a humanoid body.

Awww YES! Now they just need the racing stripe! This pillar reminds me of the weird pillar on the right of the Ashyn exodus mosaic that has snakes or spren coming out of it. And the creepy pillars in the background of Taln's endpage. Maybe no connection. https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/stormlightarchive/images/c/c2/Oathgates.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20190617030117 https://i0.wp.com/www.tor.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Taln-Donato-rgb.jpg?resize=997%2C1500&type=vertical&ssl=1 That's a new one for Dalinar. Did he get this from Wit, Zahel or other worldhopper? Or is this one of his unexplained (spiritual realm) insights like knowing there are 9 Fused Orders? I don't know that "what goes around comes around" is appropriate here, but it is amusing to see Kaladin give and get these ultimatums.

I generally agree that spren as we've seen them would have a hard time using the spanreed on their own or planting it. I do have a theory that The Sibling is the "God of Mountains" from the horneater peaks origin story and that They can manipulate stone, perhaps including gemstones. Perhaps the Sibling can move a gem around. The other two Bondsmith spren can do special things Stormfather summoned or create a storm out of nowhere at the end of WoR, Nightwatcher alters people's spiritweb and maybe their cognitive aspects as well, Sibling might have some special things They can do. Perhaps involving Stone and Gems since They are closely linked with Urithiru working properly. Maybe there is no corresponding spanreed where someone is writing on the other end. Maybe the Sibling is just moving the corresponding half gemstone or just moving that very gemstone Navani found.

It seems like only a Spren, Herald or Aimian (both types) would have both the knowledge of which ancient fabrials were really dangerous and the motivation to try to stop it. Spren One that's been around a long time would know about Fabrials since they are used to power Fabrials. The words seem like those of a spren and closely reflect the Stormfather's views on fabrials which is probably how other spren view fabrials. Obviously, it can't be one of the dumber spren (sorry to any dumb spren reading this). If these are a Spren's words they almost have to have an agent in the physical realm placing the spanreed gem and writing for them. It would be cool if this was the Sibling who had recently awoken and is bonding Navani, but has concerns. I don't see that as likely. Herald We've seen Ishar and Nale be concerned over how humans are using magic. But they handled it differently. Nale went around killing people who he saw as dabbling in dangerous magic. Ishar told him to do it and in general Ishar seems to yell at people more directly. He screams at the Stormfather during storms and he yelled at Dalinar over official spanreed as Tezim. Not his style to plant a secret gem. There's a bunch of Heralds that who are unaccounted for in the present, but we don't know much at all about them. Aimians Aimia is where they found the cache of fabrials recently which helped spur the recent innovations. Aimia was the center of fabrial and soulcaster tech before it was scoured. Both types of Aimians live a long, long time so any living Aimian was probably around when Aimia was creating all kinds of fabrials and would know about them. We've seen the Sleepless guard Aimia or at least it's capital very closely. But, like with the Heralds, they kill people if they get too close. Although, the Sleepless who kills Kaza and her companions in OB did mention multiple warnings that were given prior to the poisoning. The Sleepless also watch Dalinar closely. According to the Brandon, they are the ones that write the back cover descriptions describing who they watch. They may be hesitant to murder the wife of someone they see as a very important person. https://coppermind.net/wiki/Sleepless#Trivia

Yeah, she appeared in multiple mirrors in OB. It may be her thing or her theme. She appears in mirrors/reflections and she alters spren into a funhouse mirror version of themselves. Shallan saw her in a mirror (in the OB chapter "Within The Mirror" ) in a hallway when she was being carried through while pretending to be dead. Then she sees her in a mirror in the Oathgate chamber.

Yeah, Moash has supernatural help. Unmade is a good call. Dai-gonarthis, the black fisher? "Let me no longer hurt! Let me no longer weep! Dai-gonarthis! The Black Fisher holds my sorrow and consumes it! " https://coppermind.net/wiki/Unmade#Dai-Gonarthis Moash heard a voice telling him to give up his pain etc. during OB. Could have been the beginnings of an Unmade working on him that now works through him in RoW..

Same. That would be the most interesting thing and she’s been looking for Them.

So Dalinar removed the ban on Shadesmar travel for the Oathgate Spren in the year in between? Sleepless makes sense as someone who could sneak a spanreed gem into the 4th bridge. I want it to be the Sibling communicating, but I don't see how that could be.

Re-shephir seemed pretty dumb. Shallan compared her to axehound in Oathbringer.

It seems similar to how Shallan could draw a person how they could be and it would inspire them. Like she did with the deserters and the guards of the slave wagon in early WoR chapters. I believe she did one of Elhokar in OB as well. Except Renarin is farther along now then Shallan was early on in WoR so he can do create a full illusion showing how Moash could be if he chose. It's frustrating since we know Renarin's spren has been altered, we don't know if this is exactly what other Truthwatchers can do or not. There does seem to be a spiritual realm element to it with the blinding light similar to what Dalinar sees in his weird dreams.

Brandon showed us the one for Taln earlier this year.

I was never clear who was supposed to be who on the cover. it makes a lot more sense to me and I feel dumb for thinking it was Dalinar in the foreground. The person in the foreground is Eshonai, and the person in the distance has a spear and looks like they are wearing tattered rags for clothing and maybe a black shield in their other hand in front of the body. Kaladin or other Bridge 4. They were all there when she did the salute. @Nymeros You're right it only fits Eshonai. Very few people in Shardplate with a Shardblade do a dramatic salute across a chasm in Way of Kings. Dalinar to Kaladin and co. after saving them from arrows, Eshonai and Dalinar to each other after the Tower batte. I thought for the longest time it was supposed to be Dalinar in the foreground and Eshonai in the background. I thought they just got his cloak color wrong. I didn't think too much about the flag since it's obscured by Brandon's name on the cover. I figured they didn't change it because the cloak being blue would wreck the way the colors flow in the painting. Everything around the cloak is orange or orangish-brown. He'd have to redesign the whole thing or live his coloring being disrupted.

The grand temple is the sky. They asked for Urithiru to be placed “closest to honor” who rode the storms.

Why does Shallan stir such controversy in the fandom? Between the love triangle and the persona triangle her character creates strong reactions in a lot of directions. Is it that she’s in the middle of multiple triangles (Jasnah - Ghostbloods is another) and being pulled many different ways that causes people to feel wildly different? This not a comment on anyone in this thread or meant to imply that anyone’s reaction is the “wrong” one.

I'd say that applies more to Szeth, with all the voices of his victims he hears. That's a deep pull btw, nice job!

I know what you mean and I am hoping it's not her or a secret persona of hers. However, she did poison her father and then strangled him when the poison didn't quite work. She's been poisoned by an ardent and her blood was soulcast to get rid of it. She or a version of her could have thought to do the reverse and soulcast Ialai's blood when she touched her.

It really could be. I was rereading, Shallan touches Ialai, thinks how disgusted at Ialai she suddenly feels. Adolin and Shallan say 3 sentences to each other and Shallan notices Ialai slumping in the soldiers arms. She's dead very soon after that. Shallan could have soulcast some of her blood when she touched Ialai. Wouldn't need a needle.

Either there is a 4th personality she's not acknowledging or someone else did it. - She killed herself, booooring - Someone with the Ghostbloods is with the party like Shallan suspects. Her thinking of it so soon makes me wonder if it's the wrong answer. Now i'm out-thinking myself. - Someone working for Restares or Restares was there to do it. - Someone from the other 8 or so secret societies was there. - Shallan has another personality she is not aware of or has forced herself to forget. "Nihilist", "Poison Ivy", "Emo-llan", or whoever prepared a syringe of poison and pricked her with it. Maybe Shallan was super dark when she was ten and this is what Veil is referring to in chapter 2. "it might be time, Veil whispered. To remember, once and for all. Everything."

They have to be bonded at the spiritual level, they have separate minds and bodies. This wob describes how the Nahel bond between a spren and a person fills in cracks in the person's spirit web. https://wob.coppermind.net/events/2/#e184

I said this last week, partly in jest, but that's literally how she operates now. "The Three" are super creepy.

You got Allomancy in my Surges, you got Surges in my Allomancy! So was brass used to make the Sibling "withdraw". I kind of hope it's not that simple. “They’ll send you after Restares next,” For everyone wondering Restares is alive and well whoever he or she is. No pronoun has been used for them in any of the books. Is Restares the Sibling?! (no) “don’t let them search my rooms before you do. Look for the rarest vintage. It is… exotic.” There's a literal message in a bottle in Ialai's chamber, isn't there?

My thread about the fortress in Dalinar's vision was more timely than I thought. This clearly does not look like a "fortress" but it's proof there are obsidian structures in Shadesmar.